a week's worth of ramblings ...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Best of luck with all of your resolutions and keeping them. I hope you did well keeping last year's. (Not to toot my own horn here ... but I did keep mine pretty well ... I didn't loose as much as I could have, but I did loose almost 30 pounds last year. That's not too bad :))

Okay ... so I haven't been on much. This time of year is crazy for everyone ... so I figure it's not so bad.

I'm happy and relieved ... Trevor, Lori, and Emma are home safe and there's one more Wright on the way next week ... prayers for that trip for them ... (They're adopting ... click on "Trevor's blog" in my links on the side ... read the last month's worth of entries.)

I'm recovering from perhaps the strangest "flu" bug I've ever had. We came home from Journey on Sunday and I was so sick ... my skin hurt, I was nauseous, I had a fever ... I was sick. I was up till about 4 am just miserable. I finally slept from about 4 till about 9 and then was up. I was still weak Monday morning, but today I'm pretty much feeling fine ... I do feel bad because I was supposed to spend the day with Sophie, but I didn't know how I'd feel today. I didn't want to get her sick. So I called yesterday and cancelled. I'm glad that Becky's home with her today.

Tyler has to go to Dayton today. His meeting is from 1-4. He thought it was from 11-4. A couple of days ago his Aflac office head guy (I know ... a technical term it's not ...) called to ask him how he was getting down to Dayton. Apparently Chris's father-in-law is also an agent who is going down to this start-of-the-year shindig. So Chris called to offer Tyler a ride. Wow ... nice one there God. I am always amazed as to His ways of showing us that we're on the right track here. Not only is Chris a very religious guy ... but he's living out his faith ... and Tyler is benefiting ... at least that's how I'm choosing to look at this. We're not spending any money today on Tyler's trip down ... nice ...

So our Christmas was good. It was nice to have both of our moms here. Family Christmas at Gramma's went well too. It was REALLY nice to see my cousins. I haven't seen them since I was in grade school ... wait ... I saw the younger one once when I was in high school. Stephen, the older brother, brought his girlfriend with him. She was sweet. They met while he was in Mexico running some resort thing ... she's not so great with english yet ... but she's getting there. The two of them seem happy. And that's good. :) We have yet to get together with Dad and Syl (they're coming here the last week of January), Gammy, and Al.

Kayla's here. I'm glad. I hope she finds Emory Adams Park okay today. She's doing her geriatric pharmie rotation at Blanchard Valley. She has to take the hospital shuttle from their overflow parking back there. She went out last night to find it but didn't go far enough down the street. She got to Main St. and thought that she'd maybe one too far and got discouraged. I'm really looking forward to having her here this month.

So Ford's funeral is on tv right now. It's very simple compared to other Presidential funerals, or at least that's what they keep saying. The pagentry still strikes me. As simple as it may be, it still seems elaborate. I know he was a president. I know he deserves honor ... and even perhaps on a national level. But something still doesn't sit well with me. And it's not just Ford's funeral ... it's all of these national funerals ... am I un-American for feeling this way? ... I don't know ... I can't imagine having to grieve in public like these people do. It almost seems as though it's too much for them at times. I know it's hard to bury a loved one. I know it's hard to grieve. Part of me can't help but wonder if thoughts of "Keep it together, there's a camera right there" or other things of that nature are in their minds. And in that case, are we robbing a very private moment from this family who is stuck in a public eye that is often unforgiving and way too nosey? ... I don't know ... just something doesn't seem right ...

a little hodgepodge

okay ... making this fast ...

- house is almost ready. floors and bathrom need done ... everything else all set.

- jammies are done. still have 5 more sewing projects to finish. only 3 of those have to be done tonight. (the other 2 have to be done by Christmas)

- our friends that are in ukraine adopting have been posting a lot this week. it's been really encouraging, exciting, and uplifting to read all of their updates and experiences. if you want to read all about life in ukraine, click on the 'trevor' link on the side of my blog. and go back on their blog till you hit around the 12th or so ... that's about when they left ohio.

- moms are coming. mine around 1. tyler's around ... when she gets here ... her drive is much longer than my mom's ...

- still have one piece of a gift for the family exchange tomorrow to finish up. i'll really try to do that before it's dark outside. (i wouldn't hold my breath it i were you ... i certainly am not going to.)

- i had probably the most restless, freaky, scary, uncool, and all out disturbingly haunting last night. i was only in bed last night for 5 hours ... and now i'm exhausted.

- work today till 1. then picking up miss sophie from school at 2:30.

- this whole not capitalizing and speaking in fragments doesn't really bother me today. huh ... must be because i'm so tired ...

- in case i forget or don't get online in the next couple of days ... merry christmas!

- must go shower now ... have to leave for work in an hour.

In Review

Okay ... quick post of my week in review. I need to be getting ready for work ... but oh well ...

Temp assignment is going well. I had a good day at work on Friday. I did a lot by myself ... and that was nice and peaceful. I'm looking forward to being able to work my whole shift without having to rely on someone to tell my what to do and how to do it.

House is all decorated. I know it has been for a while now. But now there's pretty packages under the tree. We still have a couple of things that need wrapped ... and we need to get on that so that the wrapping stuff can be cleaned up.

The office is almost all cleaned out and the closet emptied. We need to get some of our clothing out of there. I've been through almost all of my stuff ... but Tyler needs to get through his. Then the closet will be ready for Kayla to come next month. We need to get the furniture moved around and the bed put up for our moms this weekend.

I had dinner with a friend on Friday night. Thanks Becky. I had a really good time. I also thoroughly enjoyed the lights tour and mini Findlay history lesson.

Saturday night Tyler and I had dinner in Lima with Alex and Rachel. It was good. I think we needed a night out. Thanks for taking us guys! We hope you had as nice a time as we did. Then we were out till around 1 am running around shopping (groceries, and Donna's gift for the family exchange). Even after we split from Alex and Rachel, Tyler and I still had a really good time. It's amazing how much fun you can really have running around Wal-Mart in the middle of the night.

Progress on the Christmas jammies is slow but steady. I need to get through them by the time I leave Becky's tomorrow. that means that I have a whole set today and a whole set tomorrow. We'll see ... I'll keep my fingers crossed. I am pleased with how they're turning out though.

Okay ... I have to leave for work in 45 mins and I haven't eaten yet and am still sitting here in my jammies. I really should get motivated and moving .... huh? ...

Request

So I don't usually do this ... but it really hit me what it said ... so I'm going to pass it on.

This is quoted from a high school friend's xanga site:

"Please pray for my friend Jess. Both her parents passed in a car accident on December 11. She's 18."

So ... even though we don't know her or who she is ... she sure needs prayer right now. And for a long time to come ...

Carmel Apple Strudel Pancake Bunt Cake Squares

Sound good. And I wish I knew if they were or not. But I've never acctually eaten any ... or seen any for that matter ...

So Thursday night we didn't have our traditional Small Group. It was just myself and my husand and one other couple - the pastor and his wife. Now, here it would be good to say that thanks to many reasons, Terry and Caddie are more like friends and older role models than they are like our pastor and his wife. And for that I am regularly thankful. Anywhoo ... Thursday night they took us to dinner and a movie. And, for the first time in a long time, Small Group was acctually open and chatty and centered like I think it should be more often. So we went to see The Nativity Story. Pretty good movie. The directors did a good job painting the background and the oppression that the Jews felt under Roman rule. Some things weren't Biblically consistent (as in they were out of order ... or just plain in contradiction to Luke ...). But all in all ... a good movie. And a very enjoyable evening. Both Tyler and I were in despirate need of a "normal" activity. Now, so don't get me wrong here ... this time of not being able to go out to eat or pay to see movies or shows has been really good for us. We've both grown incredibly. But, for a while now, I've been so ready to be able to do those sorts of things again with eachother and with our friends. And so ... knowing that ... and being so uber wonderful and all ... God has given us those opportunities recently. We went to Fort Findlay's show thanks to my costume production for them. We went out to dinner and a movie thanks to our small group. And Friday night we had some much needed socialization too ...

We went down to Ada for Kappa Phi's Sing-A-Thon. Now, when I was in school I never really looked forward to this particular service project. My sisterhood did some other things that I liked much better. But, when I was in school ... no one wrote and preformed a rock opera. And Carmel Apple Strudel Pancake Bunt Cake Squares was indeed the title of one of the songs. It was fabulous. Thank you Seth and Quinn for sharing your crazy world and mad talents with the rest of us. It was amazing. Way better than I could have imagined. And I loved the fight scene. (Yes, that's right ... there were actors and scenes and costumes AND all new original music.) Tyler and I thought we'd go down for they're hour (7-8 pm) and then take off. But we hung around chatting till about 11:30. Not only did we get the chance to hang out with really super cool people that we just don't get to see anymore, but there were plenty of alumni like us, and even sweet new pledgies there. Tyler had a chance to hang out with a couple of the STE pledges. I know that was enjoyable for him ... and he's double bonus points on their interview sheets (b/c he's an alum and a national officer). I even got the chance to do a couple of KP pledgie interviews. (So in both STE and KP all of the pledges have to interview all of the brothers/sisters while they're still pledges. We, KP, won't let the pledge class through till all of the interview sheets are turned in. ... or at least that's how it used to be.) I too am bonus points ... ahh ... to be old ... (And AliP ... call me ... Maria's Tacos awaits us :P)

Okay ... I need to get ready for work ...

Oh yeah ... and Tyler has a job. He starts for Aflac on Tuesday.

O-H. I-O. Go Gators!

... becuase that Florida win was bad for Michigan. And now ... Florida is number 2 in the coaches' poll. Oh yeah ... :)

In other news -

After much work around here yesterday, the house is Christmas-ed out for the season ... all but the tree is finished. Tyler and I will work on that after Journey tonight ... or at least that's the plan. The rest of our house looks really nice this year. I'm pleased.

We have NO clean dishes. Nor do we have any space in the dishwasher. It's definately time to run that ... yet another thing on the list for after Journey.

My sewinging machine is broken. Major bummer there ... the family Christmas presents for the year aren't done yet ... I NEED my machine back. But ... it's $60 for the tech to look at it ... and I don't know that we have that. Hmm ... have to find some way around that one.

Tyler's not feeling good. His throat hurts ... hmm ...

The Browns won today :) ... Woo-Hoo 4 games this season! :)

We have yet to set up the office for Kayla's stay in January. However, there's a large TV box in there (Gramma's Christmas present from her kids). We do however need to get on that in the next couple of weeks because ....

Tyler's mom will also be up here for Christmas. We're trying to talk her into coming up and leaving with my mom ... so she'd carpool up from Columbus on Friday and then back down on Monday. That would cut her drives in half ... and it's really long a boring to drive all the way from here to WV in a day. Hopefully our suggestion will stick. Anywhoo ... with the full house going on, we'll need the airbed AND the couch for the Christmas weekend.

Oh and finally, what is up with that dancing/jumping robot on the side of the football ins and outs on FOx? Seriously? ... That's like the most retarded thing ... EVER ... (okay, maybe not ever ... but it's up there ... )

Okay ... let's see if I can manage to be productive in the next 10 mins before we leave for Journey. Wish me luck ... I'll need it today.

God's Mysterious Workings

Well ... I didn't get the job ... at least not immediately. The manager was super nice. She took over the Findlay store about 4 monts ago and, figuring she'd have to do some restaffing, just posted all of the positions in the store. She admits that she really needed to pull the ones off that weren't open ... but who appies to be a seamstress? ... right? ... So I am on the top of her list/pile. Which is good ... but not why I was sent there ... at least I don't think ...
She and her husband (an out-of-work youth pastor) moved here from Michigan when she took over the store. They can't find a church they like. They can't find any "quality young couples" (her words) to hang out with. Hmm ... I thought ... so I asked ... They're looking for something not super traditional, but not way out there either. Hmm ... we're growing a new community right now. She said that they've tried a couple of places, but they hate just being a face in a crowd. They want to be a part of a community ... they need people to live life with. (Cue the real reason why I'm here ...) So I tell her about Journey. She's kinda excited. I give her the website. She sends her husband to check it out ... hmm ... imagine that. Even she said that maybe it was a total God-thing that I came in ...
I thought about it afterwards ... but I'm thinking of going back and seeing if she and her husband would like to hang out and have dinner with Tyler and myself ...
I love getting to visibly see and be a part of God's plan. Thanks God. I needed that pick-me-up yesterday ... even if I was bummed that I didn't come home with a job ... I came home with something more ...

Interview

I have an interview on Monday afternoon ... where I was talking about earlier (see 2 posts ago). Hopefully that'll pan out. The manager there seems really nice and sounds like she's about my age. She was definately glad to hear from me and really wanted to get me in soon. Now ... what to wear? ... I know ... It sounds like a chick-question. But here's the thing ... it's a kind of trendy shop. I'm not really trendy ... so do I try to wear something as trendy as I can? Or do I wear my suit like I would to any other interview? What about just slacks and a blouse? ... See, I just don't know ... hmm ...

Here's hoping you all had wonderful turkey days! I know we did - after our power came back on :P ...

Now the official countdown to Christmas can begin. Number of days left: too few! Don't count on me for your count down. ...

Alright ... back to work. I have a lot of projects that need to be finished by Tuesday. That ... and there's college football on tonight.

Turkey and the Like ...

go eat some ...

Seriously ...

It's Thanksgiving ...

Have a happy day!

(and PLEASE be safe out there)

Another Shot

Oh, let the world crash love can take it
Oh, let the world come crashing down
Oh, let the world crash love can take it
Love can take a little, love can give a little more

Ahh ... Skillet ... I am such a panhead ... what great lyrics.

So I applied for another job. This one is as a seamstress in the mall. I could totally do that. I was listing my available hours and came up with 43 ... yeah ... and that's all outside of the hours that I'm currently working. Sweetness. So they want to set up an interview. I'm supposed to call and speak with the manager. Calling on Friday ... well now ... that doesn't feel really intelligent. But I don't want to leave it forever either ... hmm ... maybe I'll try in the afternoon sometime during a probable lull. Hmm ...

Okay ... dinner was good. House still needs floors cleaned. Grammas pants are still in need of a hem. But the dishwasher is running ... that's a start.

Happy Day Before Turkey Day!

So ... craziness has taken over my life. I shall start with last Thursday.

I went to work as usual after school as "Nanny Rachel" (that's what the girl has chosen to call me ... so I just go with it ... ). And discovered that it was my last day. Sad. But the kids' dad wanted more time with them, so he was going to take them on the days that I had them. I was bummed. But they deserve to have time with their dad ... and he with them. So I was happy about that. Then Tyler got the "Thank you for your interest in our company" letter from American Family. So that was a bummer ... Thursday wasn't fabulous. However, we went to small group that night and lots of good came from it. I know it really helped Tyler. And that's a good thing.

Friday we took off around 3:30 for Columbus. We went down for The Game. Awesome atmosphere. We could have watched it with our church at home ... but there's nothing like Columbus on the day of The Game. Amazing. We took off for campus early on Saturday. ESPNs College Gameday was broadcasting from OSU, so we went to check it out. Wonderful. Way fun. Stupid Corso picked the "Other Team" to win though. He was boo-ed for a really long time. It's okay though ... he picked Texas and Iowa over OSU ... wrong about those ... wrong about this. Wonderful game. :)

Sunday we came home. I was supposed to work at the church on Sunday night ... but I definately got sick at like 5:30 ... like all over the bathroom/barely made it to the toilet sick. So even though it was super short notice and I felt awful about it, I knew I had no business babysitting. So I had to call and cancel. Then I called mom to find out if she'd been feeling okay. (We had the same thing for dinner the night before and again for lunch that day.) No ... she wasn't doing so hot either. That's like 3 times this year that we've gotten sick like that ... so perhaps we shouldn't eat the same thing out ... hmmm ...

Monday I had to work, but wanted to get some work done around the house and also on the vests for the community theatre. I did just that. I now have all of the vests finished. The house is mostly clean (I need to do the floors tonight and clean the bathroom up tomorrow morning). I just have to sew on 10 more buttons and all 8 of the vests will be finished. I can turn them and all of my receipts in on Sunday night. Woo-hoo! I feel kinda bad that it took me this long ... but I've only taken 6 weeks ... and I've had other things to do too ... and each one takes me about 5 hours to complete. That's a lot of work ... that's like 40 hours of work on top of everything else. Also on Monday a woman who I've done a lot of seamstress stuff for called and asked me to shorten some sleeves on a jacket for her to wear on Thanksgiving. I told her I would. She came by yesterday with the jacket. I maybe spent 15 minutes on it ... MAYBE ... She picked it up today. I told her $12 ... but she wrote her check for $24. SWEET! I would have charged her a rush fee, but I didn't tell her about it on the phone on Monday. So I kinda felt like I couldn't charge extra for that ... but it looks like she felt bad about it being last minute. Cool with me.

Yesterday I got my nanny job back. Something came up and the kids' dad can't take them like he wanted to ... so I'm back on. Yay!!!!! Today I spent the whole day practically with the girl. She wants to make like a bookbag thing and has had the pattern for quite some time. Today we went shopping for all of the supplies (fabric, etc) and spent a couple of hours and I taught her how to lay it out and pin and cut. We'll work out some day soon that we can spend sewing.

Okay ... I need to make something for dinner. Tyler and I are both getting hungry. I also need to get busy on the next sewing project on my list. Gramma asked me to hem some pants for her and I promised them to her by Thanksgiving. So I shall take them with us tomorrow when we go have Turkey Day with her.

Happy Turkey Day in t-minus 7 ish hours!

What I Have to Say

Here is what I have to say. I LOVE Gilmore Girls. Now, I know that it's just a t.v. show ... but I have a complaint here ... Lorelai and Christopher should NOT have gotten married in Paris. Period. Now ... that being said ... I have some other comments. How fabulous was all the stuff with Mrs. Kim, Lane, and Zach? Amazing! They're having twins ... he wants to name them "Marco" and "Polo" ... FABULOUS!!!!! (And I will stand firm on the fact that we will NEVER name our kids that ... no matter what Tyler says!) I love Gilmore Girls. At the end they previewed for the season ... there was definitely a scene between Christopher and Luke. They were walking towards each other looking for a fight. And I say "Heck Yeah!" Luke will kick Christopher's tooshie! By the way ... what's up with Marty pretending that he's never met Rory? Totally weird.

Okay ... so Tyler and I have made trips to Delaware for Gammy two days in a row now. I'm tired of going down there ... I know that we're helping her ... and Dad ... but grr ... Oh well ... As far as I can tell, we're not heading down there for a while now.

THE Big Game is Saturday. OSU is gonna kick tooshie. More on that later. Now time for a late night nackie.

Christmas Prep ... HELP!

So I've decided that I'm going to give my mom this lovely scarf that I've been crocheting for Christmas. Now, I learned how to crochet when I was much younger. My gramma used to knit and crochet and she taught me. However, I hadn't done it in so long that I'd forgotten how to. I went to a ladies craft night sort of thing at the church a while ago and there received a nice refresher course. Since then, I've made the scarf about as long as I'm going to ... and I've figured out what kind of tassels I'll be putting on it. (Not my choice to add tassles ... I'm not really into them ... but I know that my mom is.) However, the scarf remains attached to my crochet hook. Why, you ask? Because I did not receive a refresher in how to cast-off and finish the thing. I know ... you're thinking, "Why don't you just take it to you gramma and have her show you?" Not gonna happen. She doesn't like to explain ... she likes to just do for you ... and her arthritis is so bad that I know she hasn't knitted or crocheted in years. I don't want her to feel like she has to show me ... That, and I'm not 100% positive that she won't also be getting a nice handmade crocheted scarf for Christmas as well. So, anyone who reads this (and I have no idea if anyone really does) who can crochet ... would you please tell me how to finish off the scarf? Please. I really need to be moving on this ...
Thanks! :)
Have a wonderful day. And thank you for reading through my current rant on Christmas prep.

I Can Share

I learned in Kindergarten to share ... and that I did ... sorry I got you so sick hon! Poor Tyler's been laid up for the last several days ... :(

So Wednesday we had dinner with my Gammy (dad's mom) in Columbus. It was her 87th birthday. Wow ... she's really getting up there ... I'll see her again on Monday when I head down to Delaware for an appointment.

So here's the real reason I felt like posting ... I got a job! I'm a lunch monitor at a middle school in town. I work from 10:45-1:15 Monday - Friday. That still lets me do most of what I was before. I have to quit the one cleaning job ... but I wasn't a huge fan of her anyways. And I have to quit my morning Bible study. It's on Thursdays ... but again ... I wasn't really committed to it ...

The point is that I have a J-O-B!!!!!

Yay ... :)

Just when I finally feel like I've got it together again ...

I get sick.

So Tyler and I had to make a trip to Columbus this weekend. We left Friday afternoon - with the intention of returning to Findlay on Saturday afternoon, in plenty of time to go to Five02. Now, that didn't happen. Grr. Why didn't it happen? Because Friday night I got sick. So we stayed Saturday night and came home this afternoon. And that was a bit rough. I feel like I've been hit with a ton of bricks today ... and I've improved. Oh well ... at least all we intended to do in Columbus is finished. (We had our headlight changed - still under warrenty. We helped Mom grade papers - for like 12-14 hours worth of work. We stopped in Delaware and took care of some business with Gammy.)

Now it's off to laundry. I have to get through this tonight. I always forget why I don't let the laundry go for two weeks till I have to do it after it has been two weeks. :P Thank heavens for my wonderful husband who's helping me tonight. I don't deserve him sometimes. :)

Happy Halloween ... 3ish Hours Early

Here ... read ...

Think of a Jack'o'latern.

Going and picking out the right one...
Cleaning it off...

And think of all the work that goes into carving it.

Cutting off the top at the thickest part...
cleaning all the icky stuff out...
putting a pretty face or design on it...
all that time that goes into it...
then when you're done and its perfect by your standards...
you put candle/light in it and it just glows....

Now think of this another way.

God picks out a pumpkin, one that is perfect one that represent you...
He takes it home, and cleans it, makes it bright and smooth.
He then takes and cuts off our tops, taking away our egos and exposing our insides...
inside is our 'yuckyness'...he scoops out all the gross stuff, our unhappiness, our hurts, everything to make us clean inside as well as outside.
He takes his time to carve just the right thing, the right face into each and gives us a new face...
he then places his light into us, each of us to shed his light to the world, and illuminate the world...

(Thanks Courtney)

(P.S. Yes ... the retreat rocked my face off. Yes ... I will write about it very soon. Yes ... I'm still debreifing.)

Lessons from the Blogosphere

So I really needed to hear this today. Perhaps some of you will too ... (and thanks to Miss SarahCool for posting it on her blog today)

Do It Anyway
by Roy Lessin

Others may not notice your efforts or give you recognition for something you've done. The credit may even go to someone else.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I am pleased by your service and will honor your obedience.

There may be times when a job you've done will be rejected. Something you have prepared may be canceled or delayed.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I see all things and will bless the work of your hands.

You may do your very best, and yet fail. You may sacrifice time and money to help someone and receive no word of thanks.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I am your reward and will repay you.

There may be times when you go out of your way to include others and later have them ignore you. You may be loyal on your job, and yet someone else is promoted ahead of you.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I will not fail you or make you be ashamed.

You may forgive others, only to have them hurt you again. You may reach out in kindness, only to have someone use you.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I know your heart and will comfort you.

You may speak the truth but be considered wrong by others. You may do something with good intentions and be completely misunderstood.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I understand and will not disappoint you.

There may be times when keeping your word means giving up something you want to do. There may be times when commitment means sacrificing personal pleasure.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I am your Friend, and will bless you with My Presence.

Finally Home ...

... till Thursday afternoon ...

So this weekend was cool. My mom and I went down to the Mingus Pumpkin festival in Cincy on Saturday. I thought I'd be in a meeting on Saturday (also in Cincy), so it was a real treat to get to spend some time with my mom. Emotionally, I really needed that. There were lots of good crafties there to look at. I don't think I've ever seen so many vendors at one festival. I also got a lot of good gift ideas as well as ideas of things I could make rather cheaply and then sell too. So the fall leaves were in full bloom this past weekend. And it was B-E-A-UTIFUL down there. The air was cool and crisp. The sun was shining. Wonderful day. And the best view of it all ... from the plane ride that mom and I took. It was far too short ... only about 10 mins. But we got a view of the whole area/county. It was sooooooooo much fun too! Just me and mom in the back seat of the little plane and the pilot in the front. He was nice too.

That's about it for highlights of the weekend. Not much can top the day at the festival. Mom and I had some good time on Sunday just being. Too often people forget how important it is to just be. Take some time today for yourself to do that ...

Okay ... laundry's calling ... It's really cold here today. I think it's about 60 degrees in our appartment. Last year we made it till Thanksgiving without the heat. But it seems colder this year. And as I look outside ... it's snowing ...

Weekend Traveling ...

... really stinks when your weekly worship gathering is on Saturday nights. I haven't been home on a Saturday night since September. I miss it. It stinks. I won't be home again next weekend either. But that'll be for a super sweet reason.

So I'm leading a retreat for high school girls in Cincy next weekend. I'm kinda getting a little nervous about it. My talk prep/practice is going well. But ... there are still spots where it seems a bit ... umm ... schizophrenic ... yeah ... that's a good word for it. Also on the subject - I have NO clue how many people read this ... but I apparently need to see the movie Mean Girls before this coming weekend. I leave on Thursday afternoon. (Also on the Cincy front - I could use somewhere to sleep on Thursday night.)

Okay ... I'm tired. I'm headed to bed. Although, I forgot to pack my jammies and toothbrush when I left home yesterday morning. It's a good thing my husband has some extra clothing at my mom's house.

Happy Birthday Tyler! I love you. I'm glad you had a good day at Fall Gathering. I'll see you tomorrow night when you get back to Ohio. Travel safely please.

WOO HOO

WOO Freaking HOO!!!!!!!!
(please excuse the language)

AMY MICHELE PASSED THE TENNESSEE BAR EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's an official lawyer now!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!